Title: An Unusual Offer

Rating: PG/PG-13

Word Count: 1224

Disclaimer: If I wrote it, it wouldn't be published because it would be locked in endless revision.

Summary: After just finishing a case in another country, Frank, Joe, and Nancy receive an odd invitation that leads to an even stranger meeting and maybe even a case.

Author's Note: I've been stalled out on everything except the Subtle Clues series, as much as I wanted to finish other things. I mentioned on one of them that I'd done some original fiction with characters that were a bit like Frank & Nancy, and when I couldn't write on anything else, I let them meet. And the one, typical of her character, stole the show.

I thought it was kind of a nice little interlude, not necessarily needing to be more, but could be, as all good stories have potential for more later.

An Unusual Offer

"Hi, I'm not sure if we're in the right place," Nancy began, looking around the room with a bit of awe as well as nerves. Frank had to admit, he was a bit jealous of the technology he could see around the room, a bunch of state of the art equipment he didn't think was available back home, not yet. "We all got these cards under our doors at the hotel, and we were... curious."

"I can't believe that worked again," the man behind the desk said, turning to the woman with the wild red hair.

She gave him a derisive smile. "Detectives are very vulnerable to that particular trait. You always want answers."

He snorted, shaking his head. "I was not that curious."

"You still came."

"Um," Joe began, "I don't suppose either of you cares to tell us why we got those cards?"

It seemed a lot like a trap to Frank, and he'd said that before, but both Nancy and Joe had wanted to go find out just what kind of trap it was, and admittedly, they had little else to do while their passport mess was being "sorted out," and the strange cards could have been about the passports.

"To test your reactions, of course."

"That's not funny," Frank told the woman. "We've had a rough couple days, and we're just trying to get home. We're not interested in anything else right now."

"The case you solved is all over the news feeds," the woman agreed. "You were fortunate to escape major injuries."

Joe got a little smug. "We're good at what we do."

"So I noticed. That's why I hired you."

"Wait. When did we sign up for a job interview?" Joe asked, frowning. Nancy gave him a slight shrug, and Frank could only echo the frown. He didn't remember applying for any jobs. They weren't even supposed to be here for more than a few days, but then true to their particularly bad type of luck, their passports had been stolen two days into their visit, stranding them while they tried to sort things out. They weren't looking for work, and they couldn't even get hired if they were.

"You didn't."

"Well, that... okay, that's what I thought, but since we didn't sign up for a job interview, how did we manage to get hired?"

"Based on your record and observed performance," the woman answered, and her companion rubbed his head like he'd been through this before.

"Flattering, I suppose, but what exactly are you trying to hire us for?" Frank asked, not sure what he thought of all of this.

"Oh, you could actually take your pick on that one," the man answered, patting a file on the desk next to him. "We have a backlog."

"I'll say," Joe muttered, eying the paperwork.

"If your agency is that much in demand, why haven't you hired anyone else?" Nancy asked. "And why come to us? We're... tourists."

"That's the source of your appeal," the woman answered. "Most of the locals have proved untrustworthy."

Frank couldn't believe it had taken him this long to see it. The icon on the computer screens should have clued them all in, but the two of them—who still hadn't offered any names—were distracting. "You're with the government."

"The same government we were warned was corrupt, the one we were told not to work with while we investigated our last case?" Joe asked. "Are you kidding?"

"You are looking at the only honest agent left," the man said, gesturing to the woman. "Technically, I'm still a regular cop, not an agent. And she's a pain in the ass, but she's the best I've worked with, with a real talent for undercover work."

"I'm still waiting for the hidden cameras and Nancy's friends or ours to show up and say we just fell for a very stupid prank," Joe said, folding his arms over his chest.

"Oh, I do so find babysitting tedious," the woman muttered. She turned to the man. "They're yours. I have to see a smuggler about his human cargo."

"You're not going alone. We've had this argument before," the man said, rushing to catch her before she could reach the other door. "Ten minutes. Pick a file. Give them some background, see if they agree to one case like I did."

She looked over at them, considering. "Their celebrity status might be useful. Give them the file on the charity fraud. Let them do the boring society function for once."

"Uh, no," Joe said. "No one said we were working for you."

"Technically, we do need an outsider to handle that one," the man said. "It's her charity."

"What?"

"My family's charity," the woman corrected. "Though yes, it is a conflict of interest for me to investigate it. That, and what political leverage I have I'm a bit busy using to stop human traffickers, so you handle the fraud, and I'll do something about the bureaucracy that is keeping you from your passports."

"You're not using that to force us to work for you, are you?" Nancy asked. "We won't be blackmailed into it."

"Such suspicious minds. Do I really look like someone who deals in bureaucracy? Or threats?"

She looked like a high paid model or a society queen, Frank wasn't sure which, aside from the hair that seemed determined to get wilder as she went along.

"Your recruitment methods leave a lot to be desired."

"I already hired all the help I need in him, but as they keep insisting I fill the damned office, I make a token effort now and again," she said, shrugging. "The three of you are my quota for the week, and now I can get back to real work."

"You know that if you didn't work so hard to push everyone away, it would be a lot easier to hire people," her friend muttered, walking with her toward the door.

"If people were easy to hire, they'd be the wrong choice for this office, becoming just as corrupt as their predecessors. Not happening. You are incorruptible, so you stay, and you keep me honest."

He snorted, laughing as he followed her out the door.

Frank exchanged a look with his brother and Nancy. "Any thoughts on what just happened there?"

"Well," Nancy began, "it's certainly one of the more interesting ways we've gotten a case."

"We're not actually going to do it, are we?" Joe asked. "She did hint around at blackmail, and I don't know that I like her assuming that we'd work for her just like that. I also don't know that I believe she's that good of an agent."

"We haven't actually seen her work undercover," Frank reminded him. "And she was right about one thing—detectives are curious."

"We are," Nancy agreed. "I want to know what's in those other files."

Joe shook his head. "Oh, no. Don't look. That's a bad idea."

"It may be exactly what that woman wants," Frank said, "but I don't think any of us can really help looking. We need to know, or we'll kick ourselves for not looking. Maybe not now, but a few hours from now, in the hotel, trying to sleep..."

"Okay, fine," Joe muttered, reaching for the top of the pile. "Let's see what we're up against."